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Thursday's revelations are just "another example of how BP has used power and influence to stop meaningful climate policy." (Photo: Brennan Cavanaugh/flickr/cc)

European Union officials "abandoned or weakened" new environmental protections after a top BP oil executive expressed concerns about their effect on the fossil fuels industry, the Guardianrevealed on Wednesday.

According to a 10-page letter obtained by the Guardian, the unnamed executive warned that proposed pollution cuts and a push for clean technologies "has the potential to have a massively adverse economic impact on the costs and competitiveness of European refining and petrochemical industries, and trigger a further exodus outside the EU."

The Guardian reports:

The missive to the EU’s energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger, was dated 9 August 2013, partly hand-written, and signed by a senior BP representative whose name has been redacted.

Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said the document "reveals how the arm-twisting tactics of big oil seek to undermine the EU's progressive energy and climate policies. BP's covert lobbying, combined with threats of an exodus of the petrochemicals industry from the EU, are nothing short of blackmail."

"This document paints a disturbing picture of the degree to which global corporations subvert the democratic process, influence the commission and threaten the vital transition to a cleaner, greener Europe," she told the Guardian.

According to InfluenceMap, which earlier this month released a report outlining how fossil fuel giants spend millions a year to defeat climate change legislation, "BP ultimately does not appear to be aligned with a transition to a low-carbon future and has stressed concerns 'including energy security, affordability and international competitiveness' against the case for ambitious [greenhouse gas] emission reductions."

Further

In the vile wake of Charlottesville - those sweaty young white men, pasty faces contorted, screaming, "Blood and Soil!" "Jews Will Not Replace Us!" "Fuck You Faggots!" - what to say? Just this: This is racism, domestic terrorism, pure hate. This is not who we are, and this is not ok. Most vital, those "whose pigmentation matches theirs" must speak "with unflinching clarity (or) we simply amen it... They need white faces speaking directly into their white faces, loudly on behalf of love."

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